Metropolitan State College of Denver trustees and students may think Denver State University is a great new name for their school, but leaders of the University of Denver say the change could create confusion and muddy the private school’s long-standing identity.

In a letter this week to the Colorado legislature — which must authorize the name change — DU attorneys said university officials “strongly oppose” Metro State becoming Denver State.

“The change would interfere with Denver University’s essential communication with its many constituents,” chancellor Robert Coombe wrote to lawmakers Monday.

“It would encroach on Denver University’s established identity, built over 147 years,” Coombe said, and he urged lawmakers not to pass a bill authorizing the change.

Metro State trustees have called a special meeting today to get legal advice on “recent developments in the name-change process.”

College spokeswoman Cathy Lucas said the trustees will consider several options, including not adopting the Denver State name.

She said Sen. Mike Johnston, a Denver Democrat, has agreed to introduce a bill next week to authorize name changes for both Metro State and Mesa State in Grand Junction, which expects to pick a new name by Tuesday.

DU’s letter has prompted conversations between Johnston and Metro State representatives this week, Lucas said, but as of Wednesday, there had been no indication the legislation would not go forward.

Johnston could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Metro State’s board of trustees approved the name change March 9, after more than a year of study that included town-hall meetings, an electronic survey of students and others, and input from a consulting firm.

DU contends it first alerted Metro State in February that it had a problem with Denver State, one of three new names the school was considering. The other choices were Metropolitan State University of Denver and University of Central Colorado.

But meetings between Coombe and Metro State president Stephen Jordan and others soon escalated into increasingly pointed letters and e-mails between the two institutions.

Berscheidt said DU officials don’t object to Metro State changing its name. It’s just the Denver State name they don’t care for, because they believe it could create confusion.

“We have not seen any marketing research” to indicate whether the Denver State name would or would not create confusion with the University of Denver, Berscheidt said.

If Metro State is determined to go ahead with the name, DU would like the opportunity to do such research, he said.

To illustrate their point about potential confusion, DU officials contacted other colleges that share similar names with other institutions.

In one letter to Metro State trustees, DU officials pointed out that when the University of San Diego’s men’s soccer team reached the NCAA final four soccer tournament, it received a trophy engraved with “San Diego State University.”

The similarity could be particularly confusing to potential out-of-state students, Berscheidt said.

Lucas said Metro State wouldn’t respond to that argument until after its meeting today.

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